A detriment to sober thinking about the political future of the United States is a lack of realistic discussion about the nature of democracy, including its problems as well as its strengths. Indeed, Americans tend to prescribe “democracy” to all other nations as a panacea, with little attempt to define the necessary preconditions and the pitfalls.
Thus it is interesting to see that Chinese scholars appear more flexible on the topic, able to voice reservations that would be taboo in the United States, an offense to this particular form of political correctness.
My example is an excellent article in China Daily, “Don’t Rush Into Democracy at Will,” by Zhang Weiying, the director of Guanghua School of Management, Peking University, which takes up such issues as the tyranny of the majority, the relationship between democracy and marketization, the rule of law and political interference with the courts, and the importance of the middle class to freedom and stability:
Since the middle class is sandwiched between the rich and the poor, it acts as the buffer between the two extreme strata of society. If the middle class is not strong enough, the rich could give fairness and justice a silent burial or the poor could rise in revolt. In either case, chaos will descend on society. And only a mature market economy can ensure a middle class that is strong enough to fulfill its social responsibilities. So without a mature market economy neither can China complete its political democratization nor can the middle class perform its role.
He advocates marketization first:
Thus, marketization of the economy is the more urgent task. If a country endeavors to establish political democracy and takes its benefits for granted before marketizing its economy in the real sense, the public will look to governments at different levels to solve problems that they actually could settle themselves.
There is not much sense in immediately reforming governments’ functions and efficiency through radical democratization, because history shows success is hard to come by this way. Almost every surviving democracy that was built before the establishment of market economy has gone through a bumpy and treacherous road. The corollary is: To avoid the treacherous journey before realizing political democracy, a country has to marketize its economy completely.
One can agree or disagree. One should also note that the Communist Party has an institutional interest in postponing democracy, and be wary of treating China Daily as an unbiased source. However, Zhang raises serious points, and China Daily is fascinating if one thinks of it as a window on discussion and argument within China’s ruling circles. (Here is another interesting piece, “Are All Officials Corrupt? No, Says Scholar”—reading between the lines, obviously the Party has an interest in saying “Damn it, we’re trying, and it’s not as bad as you think,” but the acknowledgment of the importance of the issue is itself notable.)
Zhang’s article is taken from a speech at “the Annual Meeting of China’s Reform (2009),” but nothing on this turns up on Google or Bing. The excerpt it well worth reading, to foster understanding of China—and of the United States.